Trolley for bathing beaches



May 17, 1932- H. A. THIEL TROLLEY FOR BATHING BEACHES Filed NOV. 11,1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 17, 1932- H. A-. THIEL 1,859,180

TROLLEY FOR BATHING' BEACHES Filed Nov. 11, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2ATTORNEY Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED STATES HENRY A. THIEL, oncHARLnsronsoU'rI-I CAROLINA TROLLEY FOR BATHING- Application filedNovember 11, 1929. Serial No. 406,454.

This'invention relates to a novel trolley device for use atbathingbeaches to enable life guards, at the beach, to reach bathers 'indistress, ina mere fraction of the time which is ordinarily requiredunder conditions where the life guard must swim to the one in distressor employ a row boat to reach the p.erson;. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide a trolley device for thepurpose stated including a watch tower which is erected on the shore andfrom which the life saver may Observe the bathers, together with trolleyunits which radiate from the top ofthe towerand any one of which maybe'employed by the. life guard, depending upon the location of theperson in distress in the water.

The invention contemplates, as stated, the erection of a tower upon theshore, at the top ofwhich the life guard is seated until his assistanceis needed, and the invention contemplates the erection of piles atdiiierent points in the water, in combination with cables radiating fromthe tower and which extend to respective ones of. the piles, andcarriers, each assembled with a respective one of the cables andconstituting means from which the life saver may swing and thus traveldown the selected cable,'and the invention has a further object toprovide in connection with'the carrier, a brake for frictionalengagement with the cable, so that the. life saver mayslackenhis speedof travel and completely arrest the passage of the car- "rier atwa pointmost convenient for him to reach "the person in peril, when he releaseshis hold upon the carrier-and drops into the water. j g -'5 Anotherobject of the invention is to pro vide, uponeach cable, near therespective pile to which it is connected, 2. cushioning means which willautomatically arrest and cushion the carrier in the event the life savershould fail to apply the brake of the carrier before reaching therespective pile and thus avoid the injury which he might otherwiseincur.

Another object of the invention is to pro- Figure 4 is a view partlyinelevation and .at one side of the tower.

andwound, and a spring adapted to be tensioned asthe cableis unwound sothat when the life saver drops from the carrier into the water, thecarrier will be automatically returned to the tower, thus enabling otherlife savers to follow suit if more than one person is in peril, or ifthe first life save appears to need assistance. r

This invention also consists in certain other features of constructionand in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to behereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings:and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing my invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like-orcorresponding parts throughout the several views and in which-:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the trolley embodying the.-invention.

Figure2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section illustratingthat end of the trolley which is associated with the tower.

Figure 3 is'a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially onthe line '33 of Figure 2 looking in the direction indicated by thearrows. I

partly in, section illustrating the end of the cable which is attachedtothe respective: pile and the buffer or cushioning means which isassociated with the cable,

In the drawings the numeral 1 indicates .in general a tower which iserected at quite an elevation, upon the shore and which supports at itstop a platform 2 upon which one 901' more life savers may be stationed,the;

platform being reached by a ladder 3 mounted The numeral 4 indicates anumber of piles which are erected in the river or sea bed at differentpoints along the beach and therefore indifferent directions and atdifferent distances from 1 the tower 1. V

The numeral 5 indicates a cable which isconnected at its upper end as at6 to the platform'2 and. is led downwardly and an-' I chored as at 7 tothe upper end of a respective one of the piles 4.

The carrier, above referred to, is indicated in general by the numeral 8and the said carrier comprises a plate 9 which is of Oblong rectangularform and provided at its ends with a downwardly extending handle 10which may be readily grasped by the life saver so that he may hang fromthe carrier. The carrier is provided at its longitudinal edges withupstanding bracket portions 11 joined at their upper ends by aconnecting portion 12 and a pulley '13 is mounted upon aspindle 14, inturn, mounted at itsends; I H we V 31, this spring being colled orarranged 1n such a mannerthat when a cable 35, which is in the saidportions 11.

This pulley rests upon the respective cable 5 as clearly shown inFigures 2 and 3 of the drawings and in order that the downward travel ofthe carrier along the cable may be slackened and totally arrested, atthe will of the life saver, a brake,indicated in general by the numeral15 is mounted upon the carrier. This brake comprises a brake arm 16provided at its upper end with a brakeshoe 17 designed to frictionallyengage the under "side of the cable 5 and positioned directly beneaththe pulley 13, the brake arm being pivotally mounted between its ends asat 18 between the upstanding side portions 11. A stop pin'19 is mountedbetween the side portions 11 and is engageable by the upper side of thearm 16 below its pivot 18, and in this postion of the arm, the brakeshoe 17 is out of engagement with the cable, being held in this positionby a compression spring 20 which is'arranged at one end against theunder side of the arm '16 below the pivot 18 and at its other endagainst one end wall 21 of a slot 22 formed in the plate 9. The numeral23 indicates a hand lever which has a 'pin and slot connection,indicated the numeral 24 with the lower end ofthe brake arm 16, and thehandle end' of this lever,

indicated by the numeral 25, is located close to one of the hand grips;10 so that the life saver may conveniently manipulate the lever 2 3 toapply the brake.

'- set screw 27, to the cable 5 at a point suitiably spaced from thepile 4. A compression spring 28 is fitted upon the cable and v bears atone end against the collar, and a coland is engageable by the brake shoe17 and the pulley 13 of the carrier in the event the carrier travelsdownthe cable a suflicient distance to reach the collar 29. It will beevident that this provides for a sudden arresting of the travel of thecarrier andthat this is ac complished with acushioningettect so as notto subject the life saver to any undue strain upon his arms.

As previously stated means is provided for returning the carrierautomatically to the tower, and this means comprises a drum 30 which isrotatably mounted upon a shaft 31 fixed at its ends in brackets 32 uponthe platform 20f the tower,thejdrum being hollow connected to the drumand which, is wound thereon, is unwound from the drum, the spring willbe tensioned; or wound.

The other end of thecable is connected to an eye 36 mounted upon theconnecting portion 12 of the carrier, and, it will be under-3' stoodthat when the life saver has grasped the carrier and descends along thecable, and drops from the carrier, the spring 33, in res winding willwind up the cable 35 and thus cause the carrier to travel upwardly alongthe cable 5 vuntil it assumes its normal position, as shown in Figure 2.r

v What I claim is z y 1. In a beach trolley for the use of life saversin quickly reaching a person in peril 1n the water, a shore tower, apile erected in the water bed, a cable extending fromrthe tower to thepile, a carrier supported for travel upon the cable, hand grips upon thecarrier to be grasped by the life saver,,and a manually operable brakeupon the carrier for coaction with the said cable, 1 j V 2. In a beachtrolleyrfor the use otlife savers in quickly reaching a person inpperilin the water, a shore tower, a erected in the water bed, a cableextending vfrom the tower to the pile, a carrier-supported for travelupon the cable, hand gripsup'onwthe carrier to be grasped by the lifesaver, and

m eans for automatically returning the car rier along the cable to itsoriginal position,

when the carrier is released. 7

3. In a beach trolley for the use of life savers in quickly reaching aperson gin-peril in the water, a shore tower, a-pileerected in the waterbed, a cable extending from the tower to the pile, a carriersupportedc'for travel upon the cable, hand grips upon the carrier to begraspedby the life saver, and

means for automatically returning the carrier along thecable to itsoriginal position, when the carrier is released, the said meanscomprising a rotary drum upon the tower, a cable connected with thecarrier and wound about the drum, and a coiled spring within the drumftobe tensionedupon paying out'of the cable from the drum, said drumconstituting means for rewinding the cable when the carrier is released.

4. In a beach trolley, for the use of life savers in quickly reaching aperson in peril in the water, a shore tower, a pile erected in the waterbed, a cable extending from the tower to the pile, a carrier supportedfor travel uopn the cable, hand grips upon the carrier to be grasped bythe life saver, and means for arresting the downward travel of thecarrier on the cable and cushioning the same, said means comprising afixed abutment upon the cable in spaced relation to the pile, a movableabutment slidably mounted upon the cable, and a compression spring uponthe cable between the abutments. 5. In a safety apparatus for bathers,the combination of a life guards station located on the shore beyond thenormal high water level, a plurality of posts in the deep water,

a plurality of radiating cable tracks extending from said life guardsstation to said posts, and means for conveying the life guard to theextremities of said cable tracks, said 5 cable tracks being so arrangedthat the conveying means will run by gravity to the eX- tremities of thecable tracks.

6. In a safety apparatus for bathers, the combination of a life guardsstation located on the shore beyond the normal high water level, aplurality of posts in the deep water, a plurality of radiating cabletracks extending from said life guards station to said posts, means forconveying the life guard to the extremities of said cable tracks, saidcable tracks being so arranged that the conveying means will run bygravity to the extremities of the cable tracks, means whereby saidconveying members may be stopped at any desired point on said cabletracks and means for bringing said conveying means back to said lifeguards station. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HENRY A. THIEL.

